How do you affect the translate node by the location of object?
Not sure if its what your looking for but the [Input > Object Info] node allows access to the vector location of the object in the current context...

from there basic maths should magic you up some results 

best of luck =)

screenie =P



Here are some links to some decent youtube channels that have helped me learn cycles

https://www.youtube.com/user/AndrewPPrice

https://www.youtube.com/user/blendercookie

https://www.youtube.com/user/tutor4u

and of coarse blender.stackexchange is here for specific quesions